Perspective: Opportunities Gained
The US scene is growing, and with more races and more prize money and crucially, more competition, it’s beginning to compete with Europe
Johnson City to Portland to Eugene to London to Italy to Ireland to Boston to Portland to Eugene to Boston to Portland, Maine. This has been my schedule since departing to Eugene for the Olympic Trials on the 26th of June. It’s been a characteristically busy summer. This is the way it goes every summer for me. Well, at least the way it’s been for me the last three years. And as tiring as it can be at times, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Being on the road with our athletes for months at a time leaves me feeling accomplished. There’s a sense of accomplishment when you get off the plane in the states knowing nothing terrible happened to your athletes. The only thing I can compare it to in my life is the self-satisfaction one gets after a successful race, but I don’t want to be over dramatic in my comparison, so we’ll leave it simply at, it was a successful summer.
In my first installment of my European blog series, I said, “You definitely don’t go to Europe for the money. In fact, in some cases, you lose money. The reason you go to Europe is for the chase, for redemption, and sometimes, just because you’ve never been before. The European circuit has that allure.” Before I go into my perspective, I want to talk about the TrackTown Summer Series in Eugene.
Let me first state how great of an opportunity this was for our athletes. Here’s a list of the prize breakdown for the meet:
1st: $4000
2nd: $3000
3rd: $2000
4th: $1,000
5th: $750
6th: $500
In addition to the prize money given out for placing in the top 6, athletes had the potential to make $1000 extra if they were on the winning team. If you were unfamiliar with the event, athletes were drafted to four different teams (Portland, New York, San Francisco, and Philadelphia) to compete in a wide range of events and scored to determine the team champion. If you were drafted in the TrackTown draft-which was done via twitter — you also received between $3000-$500 depending on what round you were drafted.
The prize money gives HUGE financial incentives for these athletes to return to Eugene and compete against each other. Opportunities like this are what the athletes crave and what would potentially keep some in the US, which was why the meet was able to bring in the talent that it did. There are a lot of great opportunities throughout the track season for athletes to compete with each other, but none offer the financial incentive (outside Diamond League) to compete that TrackTown did. Now, its worth pointing out that many of these meets have meager budgets and are able turn water into wine by providing fantastic opportunities in their own right — something that shouldn’t be overlooked.
So, why do our athletes still go to Europe? As Kayne West raps, ‘Bird can’t fly in a cage.’ Athletes’ are always going to be eager to spread their wings and fly overseas. Not for the money, but for the opportunity, the competition, and the allure. There is a movement of grassroots track races in the US that is taking the sport by storm in Late July/August. Track meets like Sir Walter Miler, Box Car Mile in Westchester, Hoka One One Long Island Mile, and Falmouth Mile are providing opportunities for these athletes to get quality competitions in after Europe. The European season fits nicely between the US Championships and these fantastic grassroots meets in August. Athletes competing in the US Championships (usually held in late June) are hungry to get back on the track and race. Conveniently, for these athletes, there are races to be run overseas July 1st-July 30th. Not so conveniently, it’s expensive. But if the options are: to have an opportunity to race or not race for a month, an athlete eager to run when they are in peak shape will take the opportunity; even if it’s a bit expensive or even if they’re running against the same competition as they would in the states. It will certainly be interesting to see if meets see the success and try and provide the same opportunities during the month of July after the US Championships. This is something I don’t think anyone would be opposed to.
Part of my job is to provide and set up opportunities for our athletes to succeed. It’s mutually beneficial for both sides. This summer there were three great opportunities for our athletes to travel across the pond and run. Two in Italy, and one in Ireland-where we were shown great hospitality by the meet organizers and volunteers. This made my job easier and helps the athletes focus on what matters, the race. We had many athletes PR. We had some that didn’t. But it was an opportunity nonetheless, and that’s what the athletes want post US Championships. TrackTown was able to provide huge financial incentive for athletes to compete against each other in a unique team competition; where meets like Sir Walter Miler provide a mom and pop environment and unmatched hospitality that makes the athlete truly feel at home. These meets will continue to live in harmony because of the different opportunities they provide, but athletes will continue to go to Europe because of the experience.
Until next time…
Matt
